A to Z of Wimbledon: Day 7

It is about time we got to the roof I think, because more than anything else this year, it has dominated discussions in and amongst the many hundreds of people working at the tournament.

Plus ...of course you cannot really talk about the overnight play without addressing Sabine Lisicki's wonderful result against Maria Sharapova on Court One.

The German is a capable player to say the least and it is the third time she has made it through to the last eight at SW19. A kind of smiling Wimbledon specialist if you like.

She lost the semi-final to Sharapova last year but this year the result always looked likely to fall the German's way.

In fact at one stage, Serena, Sharapova and Kvitova were all in trouble and either down a set or level and in danger of going out.

As it turned out, the Russian was the only one to fall, as Serena again found a way to win through, while Kvitova took advantage of an unsettled and slip-prone Francesca Schiavone to come back to win in three.

The smiling Lisicki showed few nerves as she took the first set, after Sharapova herself tightened up when serving at 4-5.

It is hard not to like the 22-year-old German - she just looks like the sort of person that you should like. You know, nice smile, friendly, shows her emotions, but no princess.

Anyway, I do not really know her, but what I do know of her through the press is that she is a very nice person ... and smiles a lot. Sensing all that I suspect, the crowd got behind her like they never do with Maria and urged her to victory.

It was a feel-good win. Or it made me, them and her feel good anyway

She will play eighth seed Angelique Kerber in the quarter-finals on Tuesday, with a semi-final waiting against the better Radwanska or Maria Kirilenko. Tough ... but far from an impossible route to the Wimbledon final.

There was no roof of course for the match as it was played on Court One, but even in its absence, people were still talking about it and its strange expanded role.

Now the roof has been enormously controversial over the first week of this event. Well, not controversial like Gilles Simon ... or Ivo Karlovic ... but still controversial.

It has been rolled over when most were least expecting it and then kept shut all day on Friday when there was not even one drop of rain. It has caused lengthy delays to men's matches involving Nadal and Murray, well before the natural light had actually ended.

That surely was the original rule?

Murray survived the other night against Baghdatis, but Nadal's momentum was brought to an abrupt halt against Rosol in that now famous match lost by the Spaniard.

At least 20 more minutes of play was possible at the end of the fourth set, by which time Nadal may well have been a break or two up. It would be easy to prosecute the case that the decision cost Nadal a chance at a third title.

And then on 'fourth round Monday' with so much rain around on the radar that most thought no play would be possible without a roof, it stayed open until late afternoon even after rain had delayed the Federer - Malisse match by an hour.

It only shut when the heavens opened again during the women's match that followed. The decision making process I am sure must be complicated, but it would also be fascinating to hear. It must change daily.

Even the players are confused on exactly what the officials are doing.

Men's defending champion Novak Djokovic had this to say the other day after his match was played under sunny skies ... but of course, with a closed roof.

""This is an outdoor tournament, so I think everybody wants to play when the roof is open," he said.

"I was a little bit surprised when I saw sunshine but that the roof is closed. But obviously they're relying on the forecast that I don't think is very reliable here.

"It's hard to judge because there are rules that have been there for years. It's not on us to decide if the roof is going to be open or closed.

"But from a players' perspective, I think it's really important that people from the organisation and everybody take the opinion of the players very seriously."

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